Tag: thankful challenge

The Thankful Challenge – Recurring Themes P2

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful! – Week 4, Post 2

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On Monday, I wrote about a recurring theme that had been weaving in and out of my daily life for quite a while, yet I chose to ignore it. I have learned my lesson and know if I see something popping up over and over again, I need to take notice. Since the start of this new year I’ve seen the words “mercy” and “grace” repeated over and over again. When I was a kid, I always heard the two words lumped together “grace and mercy”or “mercy and grace”. I honestly always thought they meant basically the same thing.

When I started hearing those two words on repeat I thought I better take heed. Grace and mercy showed up in the message at church on Sunday, my morning study, several videos, as well as a few readings. I wasn’t even searching for those specific words, they were just there. Someone was trying to get my attention. The alarms were going off, “DO NOT IGNORE!”

From my morning study, The Bible Recap withTara Leigh Cobble, TLC gives a great definition of these two words. “Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve… Grace is when you get what you don’t deserve.” At first it was a little hard to wrap my head around these two definition. The words for both definitions are so similar, however, when the words are slightly reordered, grace and mercy convey opposite meanings. While Tara Leigh Cobble is referring to the words as they relate to our relationship with God, it is important to note that we can extend grace and mercy to each other. Heaven knows I need all the grace and mercy I can get.

As an imperfect human, I mess up…a lot. I don’t start my day thinking about all the mistakes I will make in the day. I do my best to be the kindest, most honest person I can be but sometimes my humanness gets the better of me. If I get frustrated, sometimes I may say something I really didn’t want to say. When I was a kid, my Mom always said (mostly in reference to the interactions between us siblings), “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I still try to live by that standard but sometimes the little soldier standing guard over my words takes a little power nap and out flies something that should have never been given breath.

If a friend, hearing those words, chooses to reprimand me, they have every right to do so. However, if they choose not to reprimand me, they have shown mercy. They didn’t give me the “what for”, which was probably well deserved. In contrast, if they choose to buy me some tea (I don’t drink coffee) and help me work through my frustrations, they have extended grace. I don’t deserve the tea or their company but they are being very gracious. My friend exercised mercy because instead of giving me what I deserved, a stern talking to, my friend chose grace, and gave me time with them and some thirst quenching sweet tea. As a southern girl, there isn’t much a cold glass of sweet tea and good conversation cannot fix.

Like a southern girl and sweet tea, it’s almost hard to have mercy without grace. While the words have opposite meanings, they go hand in hand, a positive partnership. I am so thankful for the mercy and grace partnership extended to me on a daily basis. I know I do nothing to deserve the grace and am on the receiving end of endless mercy. I want to make sure I extend that same mercy and grace to others because we have a legacy of mercy and grace. Christ showered us with the ultimate mercy and grace at the cross.

The Thankful Challenge – Recurring Themes P1

A 365 Day Challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 4 – Day 1

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Do you ever have those moments where the same phrases or ideas keep appearing in your life? You are not looking for them, they just keep showing up. Whether it’s a speaker at a conference, your daily devotion, reading a friend’s social media post (cheesy or otherwise), or maybe it’s just an inspirational poster on the wall (Hang in there Kitty!), those recurring moments keep coming around again. It’s almost like a kid on a carousel, waving every time they round the bend to make sure you notice them. If you are looking away or not paying attention even for a moment, you may miss the kid on the carousel, you may miss the recurring theme.

Sometimes it takes me a little longer to recognize the recurring theme. Other times I think I am blocking it out, especially if it is something that makes me uncomfortable or makes me look a little too hard at my current place in life. Often I think those recurring themes are intentionally calling me out waving as me as if to say, “Pay attention!” with flashing red arrows and fireworks in the background.

The last few years (yes years) one recurring theme kept showing up over and over again. At first I ignored it and “wrote” it off as coincidence but the recurring writing theme, that kid on the carousel, kept on waving! “What if you can write a book in a month?” “Why do you hesitate on what brings you joy?” “Face your fears!” Then as I was working through one of my daily readings and the accompanying video, I heard, “How many books are buried because people were afraid to share their writing.” That one hit me to the core. I am not planning on “going anywhere” anytime soon but it shook me.

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The recurring writing theme finally shone like the sun, impossible to ignore. The kid on the carousel finally seemed to be making some headway. While I had been cataloging all the reasons why I couldn’t write or shouldn’t write, I was also subconsciously compiling a list of reasons why I should write. I don’t have time to write/I’m sure you can carve out some time each day. What if people won’t read it/but what if they do. I haven’t really written anything in over 3 years/there is no time like the present. It was a strange struggle. A battle royale in my brain and I wasn’t entirely sure which side was winning…until finally, the word “WRITE” was emblazoned on my mind.

I could not ignore it any more. The “prose” finally outweighed the cons. The dizzying carousel ride had come to an end and the frantically waving (and now motion sick) carousel kid was thinking to themselves, “Finally! She listened.” Sorry it took me so long, kid. I am thankful that, even though I was stubborn and didn’t pay attention as well as I should have, the kid on the carousel kept on waving. I am thankful for those recurring themes that won’t let go, those divine interjections into my life that keep making themselves known. Thank you for not giving up on me.

Oh the Places the Clutter Will Go!

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There’s clutter here. There’s clutter there. There’s clutter darn near everywhere.

It’s on the desk. It’s on the floor. There’s even clutter by the door.

The clutter seems to multiply as each and every day goes by.

First at my feet, then at my knees, then swimming in the clutter sea.

In piles and piles of this and that, I finally found my missing hat.

If there was more time in the day, I could sort and sweep the clutter away.

I’m sure I’d find more treasure troves in my giant clutter groves.

For today, a slight departure from my year long Thankful Challenge. This was a fun little blog prompt from WordPress so I thought this would be my post for the day. The prompt for the day, “Where can you reduce clutter in your life?”

Bloganuary writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
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The Thankful Challenge – The Calendar

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. Week 3, Day 1

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I love this time of year. It seems everything is shiny and new and everyone has a fresh start as they open their new calendar. Nothing is written on the calendar. It is not busied up with pencil marks or all the tasks you have to do for any particular day, week, or month. The calendar is a blank slate waiting for you to write those notes and appointments as if to say, “This is my destiny”. Ok, ok, that might be a little dramatic. Let me try again. You get to write the first markings on the calendar telling you where you are destined to be on any given day. You are literally writing your future! Alright, still a little dramatic but that’s just how I’m feeling right now.

If you are a digital calendar person, you scroll to your new calendar or click on your calendar app. I understand that as well. My daughter keeps me up to date on her schedule as we share a digital calendar. I enjoy seeing the little notifications pop up when she adds something to the calendar. Clicking the accept button on her notifications brings me joy. It makes me happy that she is keeping me in the loop and that she wants me in the loop.

The new year brings with it so many new opportunities. Even if it doesn’t really bring all these new opportunities, there is the illusion that new opportunities are there. “New Year, New You!” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that in an advertisement recently…I’d have like 10 dollars. (That’s one of my hubby’s jokes.) But really, I’ve heard that saying so much I think I’m beginning to believe it myself. What if I can be a “new me”? What if I can write this blog and be considered an actual writer in this new year? What if I can start a vlog to go along with my blog? I’ve been thinking about it for a while but for some reason a switch flipped when this year rolled around and I’m so excited to get this journey started. Truly, I am still my same self from December 31 to January 1 to now but the promise of great things in the new year has me all excited and it all started with the flip of the calendar.

Is it trivial to be thankful for and excited about flipping through the pages of the calendar and checking off accomplishments as I go? Maybe…but I am! This year, I want to write down and check off so many things as the pages of the calendar flip from week to week and month to month. What can I accomplish this year? Will I have enough time to do everything I have planned? Will I ever get my desk cleaned off so I can actually write at my desk? And how can my handy dandy calendar get the assist? First note in my calendar…clean off my desk! Dear Calendar, Thanks for the reminder.

The Thankful Challenge – Day 4

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Want to know one of the fun things about my midnight musings? You get to see the inner workings of my very tired brain. It’s always a fun time when I try to make a post when I really should be snuggled down and fast asleep. I probably should go back and check the posts to make sure I didn’t make too many typos (or say anything too crazy) but maybe I will do that another day. Today I am trying something a little different and writing while the clock still says “a.m.”.

Today, on Day 4, I want to give a huge shout out to the most influential person in my life, my Mom. She has been my inspiration, my confidant, my friend, and my biggest supporter to name a few of the qualities that make her the best. It’s amazing to think God could put so much goodness, kindness, and compassion into one person. She has a spirit of helpfulness and giving that I think may be unmatched. I wish she had kept track of her pie giving when she first started taking pies to people that were homebound or recovering from sickness. I’m pretty sure the pie count would be 500 or more. Did I mention she makes a mean lemon meringue pie? It’s not the thing I am most thankful for about her but it is definitely up there on the list. I’ve tried a lot of lemon meringue pies in my time and no one makes one like my Mom. She also makes a fabulous coconut pie, and pecan pie, which are also fan favorites, but I would arm wrestle someone for the last piece of her lemon meringue pie!

Oh goodness, sorry, I got going on a pie tangent and couldn’t reel myself back in. It happens.

I am one blessed woman to have a Mom like my Mom! We talk and text a lot, sometimes about really random things. She has a great sense of humor and tolerates mine. She laughs at my jokes and comforts me when I am not in the most joking of moods. She has never ever given up on me even when I wasn’t the easiest to love. And she has supported me through everything, even when I moved across the country to pursue one of my dreams. As a Mom with a child that just left for college, I know those years apart were not easy for her but she never made me feel guilty about being so far away.

Mom has supported me always and in every way. Now she does the same for her grandkids. Whatever the weather, if she tells them she is going to be there, she is there. Scorching hot track meets, check, torrential downpour football game, check, freezing cold regatta and cross country meet, double check. She has been there for my kids the way she was there for me and that is something I will never forget. I want to support my kids and be the best Mom I can be for them because of her.

I could go on and on and I will likely revisit Mom stories later in the year. There is one thing for sure, the bond between a Mother and daughter is so special and I am thankful God saw fit to put us together! I love you to the moon and back!

I would love to hear your favorite stories about your Mom. Please leave a comment to let me know one of your favorites!